Sega Saturn Error: System Memory Not Ready, 0 blocks available/free after format

Discussion in 'Repair, Restoration, Conservation and Preservation' started by A Murder of Crows, Feb 3, 2017.

  1. A Murder of Crows

    A Murder of Crows Spirited Member

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    Hey all

    A friend of mine had a Sega Saturn where this error message was coming up whenever he put in any game. It essentially looked like the system's internal memory was gone. Memory Management didn't do anything, neither did resetting or formatting the internal memory.

    I got that system from him to look at and see what can be done.

    Today, I hooked up my personal system and got the exact same error. No memory available.

    Battery was changed. My system has a mod board in it that has been working fine for years.



    EDIT: I was able to get my system going again, seemed to just be corrupt memory. The other system however gives an error when the internal memory is checked: BUP_UNFORMATTED. attempts to format the memory succeed, but when checking the memory afterwards, the error comes up again.
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2017
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  2. bart_simpson

    bart_simpson Dauntless Member

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    Could be a ram chip that holds the saves has died.
     
  3. Digmac

    Digmac Removed for Not Reuploading Juiced Fast Enough

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    @A Murder of Crows I would check over the RAM and possibly see if it needs a replacement. They have conversions now to RAM that doesn't require a battery, so maybe that would pan out for this one.

    PM me sometime. Good to see ya at this past show.
     
  4. TriMesh

    TriMesh Site Supporter 2013-2017

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    Also worth checking to make sure you have power on the backup RAM chip - there is a little supervisor chip that switches over the power between the battery and system power and also disables one of the CS lines when the power is off. If checking this, make sure you get the right one. For some reason only known to Sega, there are two of these power switch chips - one for the RAM and the other for the RTC.
     
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